I am trying to remove the hard drive from an old Performa 6290CD. The computer and hard drive work, I am trying to hook it up to another computer to image the hard drive before I format it. Can anyone tell me how to open the chassis to get to the hard drive? I am afraid I will break the plastic trim trying to open it. I would greatly appreciate any help.
Do you have Broadband Ethernet? If so, you have already used all the tools you would need to set up a small Ethernet network and copy all your files from a working 8.6 Mac to a working 10.4.11 Mac.
Sorry for the delay, I had to look up the disassembly procedure.
The Hard Drive is under the floppy, and accessed by removing the front plastic cover. The front plastic cover has an overhang, under which the keyboard can be pushed up against the front of the chassis. Just under the overhang, an inch or so in from each side, there is a latch. these latches are released by inserting a flat-bladed screwdriver and prying gently up to release each latch in turn. (Not too much force should be required -- these latches were replaced by a finger-activated version the next time that enclosure was revised.)
Tabs on the top of the plastic front panel make it behave as if it were hinged on the top, so that when the latches are released, the panel should swing away at the bottom and be lifted up for removal. Once removed, you will see a stamped metal plate, the "Drive Security Bracket" over the Hard Drive cavity, secured underneath with a Phillips screw. Remove the Phillips screw and remove the Drive Security bracket by lifting it up as if it were hinged on the top, similar to the plastic front panel.
The drive data cable and power cable will be facing you. Remove the data cable by pulling gently on the TAB, not on the data cable itself. Remove the 4-pin Molex power cable by wiggling it in all directions as you tug on the connector, never on the wires.
The drive is mounted on a plastic sled, whose release tab is at the front. The release tab must be lifted up while applying pressure forward to slide out the drive. Once free of the chassis, four screws from below retain the drive on the plastic sled, which will probably have to be removed to use the drive in a different enclosure or a different Mac.
If you are erasing the drive to donate the computer, it is a big help to the next recipient to put an Operating System (any appropriate Operating System, even a really old one) back on the drive after it is erased. This will make it easy to see that the Mac actually works, and will make it much easier to upgrade to a different Operating System if they so desire. Macs with no Operating System loaded often end up in the crusher, even if they were perfectly good.
That post was a great help, thank you. I just want to pull the HD to transfer all the files to a newer computer to be archived on CD's so I can then put the drive back, format it, and reinstall all the factory software like it was when it was new. We are using it to replace an older LCIII for occasional household use since many of the new macs do not run all the old software we have properly and we don't want to go to the trouble of converting them all to a newer format since we mostly use Windows now. Thanks again!
